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Ammar Abo Bakr is widely known for his artistic contributions on the walls of Cairo, specifically on Mohamed Mahmoud Street. His work captures the struggles of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, an event that Abo Bakr feels the need to educate others about. Throughout the revolution, Ammar Abo Bakr painted amidst resistance from the police force, which would cover his art with white paint as a sign of criminal justice. In an interview with Sarah Mousa of Jadaliyya, Abo Bakr said, "...While we [artists] strongly oppose the military and want to mark that stance, we love the people and would also like to present art to the people... I want to present something of beauty to people who can see it, see that their streets have beautiful murals and feel joy. The murals of Abo Bakr's that remain on Mohamed Mahmoud Street are regarded as some of the most beautiful artwork to come from the revolution.

Background Information
Between 1996 and 2001, Ammar Abo Bakr studied art and eventually began working at Luxor University. Beginning in 2004, Abo Bakr began researching the Egyptian people, looking for inspiration for his artwork. When the Egyptian Revolution occurred in 2011, he left his job at the Faculty of Art to create street graffiti in Cairo on the "zoning" walls that were erected by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as a way to reduce violence and resistance movements. When writing about this decision, Abo Bakr noted, "What we did in Egypt in recent years was not about presenting art, at least it wasn’t to me: We used walls as a newspaper... Me, I was a fine arts assistant professor. I left the faculty to report on the revolution on the city’s walls." As a way to reduce violence from uprisings, the Security Council of Armed Forces SCAF, had walls erected In the days leading up to President Housni Mubarak stepping down, Abo Bakr and others spray painted rebellious messages on the walls in Cairo. As civilians began to be murdered throughout the revolution, the artists switched their focus to painting on the walls in dedication of the martyrs. In March 2012, he and other artists launched the "No Walls" graffiti campaign. The goal of the campaign was to use trompe l’oeil to artistically transform the restrictive barriers put in place by Egypt's Interior Ministry to make it appear as if they were not there. After the revolution began to dissipate, Abo Bakr returned to work at Luxor University, where he became a professor and teaches his art students about his experiences of the revolution.

His Work
Ammar Abo Bakr's artistic contributions can be seen in various places including Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Beirut, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels. Much of his work is anti-regime and commemorates the martyrs of the revolution. One of his most famous pieces, "The Young Man with Fish Eyes," depicts a man who lost his eye during the revolution due to a sniper bullet. Abo Bakr also created a "row of martyrs" on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, depicting the gruesome faces of the revolutionaries who were murdered during the uprisings. Among his other work are a picture of a three-headed snake, symbolically used to mock the leaders of [SCAF], and a mural dedicated to his close friend and fellow artist, Hisham, who lost his life during the revolution.